Getting Back on Track

The legislature and advocates are working hard to get the legislative session back on track or at least as close as possible to what a typical legislative session would look like. Although this year is anything but typical there are still many bills to be heard – most somehow related to the identified priorities of COVID-19, wildfires, or homelessness – and policy committees have been hearing bills accordingly. There have definitely been some challenges such as bills not being referring to more than one committee (known as double -referred) for policy discussions. Often the more complex bills impact more than one policy area, so they get referred to the respective policy committees for discussion ultimately resulting in a more thorough discussion about potential unintended consequences. However, the call-in option for public comment has been a good opportunity for the advocacy community since in previous years many people could not get to the Capitol to give public comment.

One thing that hasn’t really changed is deadlines – house of origin (policy, fiscal and floor), budget committee deadlines, and the constitutional deadline to pass the budget. Upcoming deadlines in the next few weeks include:

5/29/2020
Last day for policy committees to hear and report to fiscal committees fiscal bills introduced in their house

6/5/20
Last day for policy committees to hear and report to the floor nonfiscal bills introduced in their house
Last day for policy committees to meet prior to June 1

6/15/20
Budget Bill must be passed by Midnight

6/19/20
Last day for fiscal committees to hear and report to the floor bills introduced in their house
Last day for fiscal committees to meet prior to June 29

As we work our way through the next few weeks and the respective deadlines we will be reaching out and encouraging your participation in advocacy efforts.